My favorite chapter of Ravitch's book was chapter 6 which is also the chapter I added information too in the reading notes. This chapter is my favorite because it took the main idea of Ripley's book and proved it to be false. My favorite thing to see done in Ravitch's book is to bring up many different key ideas that are being used by others and are believed to be true, and disproving them. One of the points in Ripley's book is that the achievement gap is staying the same, however in Ravitch's book she is able to prove that the achievement gap has shrank in the past during the civil rights movement but has remained static in the past years because all groups of students are increasing in NAEP scores at the same rate.
I did add to the end of chapter 6 in the big note file. I wrote a one paragraph summary of the reformers' claim and Ravitch's argument, a description of the evidence that used by Ravitch, and a description of why this issue is important for our efforts to develop a new strategic plan.
In this chapter the reformers main claim is that the achievement gaps between minority students are getting larger and larger and that privatization will aid in closing the achievement gap. The main argument made by ravitch is that there has been progress made in lowering the achievement gap, it just is not very noticeable because all ethnicities of students are increasing at a similar rate. she also claims that the achievement gap will remain large if we do not focus our attention at the real cause of the gap which is the family income and education level of the parents. The reformers believe that standardized testing will be able to change the achievement gap as well as improving the quality of teachers in lower income urban schools. Ravitch also claims that standardized testing does not solve to root problem which is that students are entering school unprepared to learn due to a language barrier or a childhood lees directed toward learning that would be given through educated parents.
The main evidence used by Ravitch in this chapter are the increases in NAEP scores presented above by former students. The number of students below basic in the fourth grade math category decreased substantially for all ethnicities as did eighth grade math and reading skills. Ravitch also points out that the largest decrease in the achievement gap was in the 70’s and 80’s because of the civil rights movement and since then the gap has remained only because all ethnicities of students are improving in their NAEP scores with the exception of American Indians in fourth grade reading.
This issue is important for the development of a new strategic plan in Rhode Island because it provides information on what causes the achievement gap and where to invest resources to continue narrowing the gap. The learning of vocabulary and skills needed to school begins at a very young age before school begins and even before preschool begins. Because of this fact it is very beneficial for young students to enroll in some kind of preschool classes to ensure they are ready for Kindergarten and first grade. Pre-school should be a more widely available for students in urban areas so more affluent children are not the only children who receive this advantage.
I did add to the end of chapter 6 in the big note file. I wrote a one paragraph summary of the reformers' claim and Ravitch's argument, a description of the evidence that used by Ravitch, and a description of why this issue is important for our efforts to develop a new strategic plan.
In this chapter the reformers main claim is that the achievement gaps between minority students are getting larger and larger and that privatization will aid in closing the achievement gap. The main argument made by ravitch is that there has been progress made in lowering the achievement gap, it just is not very noticeable because all ethnicities of students are increasing at a similar rate. she also claims that the achievement gap will remain large if we do not focus our attention at the real cause of the gap which is the family income and education level of the parents. The reformers believe that standardized testing will be able to change the achievement gap as well as improving the quality of teachers in lower income urban schools. Ravitch also claims that standardized testing does not solve to root problem which is that students are entering school unprepared to learn due to a language barrier or a childhood lees directed toward learning that would be given through educated parents.
The main evidence used by Ravitch in this chapter are the increases in NAEP scores presented above by former students. The number of students below basic in the fourth grade math category decreased substantially for all ethnicities as did eighth grade math and reading skills. Ravitch also points out that the largest decrease in the achievement gap was in the 70’s and 80’s because of the civil rights movement and since then the gap has remained only because all ethnicities of students are improving in their NAEP scores with the exception of American Indians in fourth grade reading.
This issue is important for the development of a new strategic plan in Rhode Island because it provides information on what causes the achievement gap and where to invest resources to continue narrowing the gap. The learning of vocabulary and skills needed to school begins at a very young age before school begins and even before preschool begins. Because of this fact it is very beneficial for young students to enroll in some kind of preschool classes to ensure they are ready for Kindergarten and first grade. Pre-school should be a more widely available for students in urban areas so more affluent children are not the only children who receive this advantage.